theater… It's Sondheim month, and the living treasure's imperturbable perspicacity will be on view when Road Show begins previews at the Public on October 28th as it is with the just-out four-disc box set The Story So Far that includes 37 cuts never before released.

photography… Opening tomorrow at Live With Animals, 210 Kent [Metropolitan] Bklyn 347.526.3179, a show of Sebastian Mlynarski's photographs called Nature that's about "Romantic notions of the search for one's true self through a connection with nature."

architecture… If you've never taken part in Open House New York, which is happening this weekend, you're missing out. This is the architecture and design event in which you get free access to almost 200 sites around the city that are normally closed to the public.

books… At our favorite new bookstore, Idlewild Books, 12 W. 19th [5th/6th] 212.414.8888, they're launching a new monthly series tonight, 7pm, called World Lit First Thursdays. Each month, they'll explore one book from a different part of the world, a discussion moderated by literary critics and translators. RSVP… And one more book note: In Monday's Iceland Dossier, we told you about former Sugarcubes bassist and author of The Pets, Bragi Olafsson, appearing at McNally Jackson. Mr. Olafsson will also appear at Book Culture, 536 W. 112th [Bway/Amst] on October 9th, 7pm.

heads up… At Symphony Space on October 15th, 7pm, it's A Night at the Office, part of Selected Shorts, with a great lineup: Stephen Colbert, David Rakoff, and Aasif Mandvi read Joshua Ferris, Lydia Davis, and T.C. Boyle.